The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Today's Darwin award nominee

A motorcyclist died during a ride to protest helmet laws:

State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.

This, you see, is called irony.

Kerner, Walker, Ryan, Blagojevich

It's impressive, isn't it, that four of the last seven Illinois governors earned felony convictions and jail time? Rod Blagojevich was today found guilty on 17 of 20 counts. From the Trib:

This marks the second time in less than a year that the 54-year-old Blagojevich, the only Illinois chief executive ever impeached and ousted from office, had been convicted of a crime. The jury at his first trial last summer found him guilty of lying to theFBI, though that panel deadlocked on all the other counts. That impasse set the stage for a retrial.

This time the verdict was unequivocal, with the jury of 11 women and one man finding Blagojevich guilty on 17 criminal counts he faced, including charges of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery and conspiracy. The marquee charge in the case involved an attempt by Blagojevich in late 2008 to cash in on his power to name a replacement in the U.S. Senate for newly elected President Barack Obama.

The jury acquitted Blagojevich on one count and deadlocked on two others.

Blagojevich, the fourth former Illinois governor convicted of felonies since 1973, likely faces a significant prison sentence.

You know, I feel sorry for the guy. He had this thing, and it was f'ing golden...

On the other hand, the guy is dumber than a box of hair. As the Trib drolled: "Blagojevich’s turn on the witness stand, something he had promised to do in his first trial before backing out, proved a double-edged sword. Under cross-examination he came off as a quibbler as a prosecutor drew a bead on his credibility from the very first question: 'You are a convicted liar, correct?' "

I'm not a practicing attorney, but even I could have guessed the government would lead the cross-examination with that question. Hell, the lawyers who advertise on the bus for slip-fall clients could have guessed that. But ol' Blago...wow.

I just realized that today's news comes in time for tonight's Daily Show taping. I can't wait to watch.

New F'ing York, baby!

Last night the New York Senate passed a same-sex marriage law making the state the sixth to legalize it and effectively doubling the population of SSM-legal jurisdictions.

Connecticut, D.C., Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont now allow same-sex marriage; civil unions or domestic partnerships are recognized in California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin (to greater or lesser extent).

One part of the country lurches into the 21st century while another staggers back to the 19th...

Map: Wikipedia

Holding America hostage

Fallows justly slams Rep. Eric Cantor (R-OH):

A petulant demonstration to the rest of the world that we can't meet the baseline obligation we expect of any two-bit duchy -- that it will face its financial problems and honor its sovereign debt -- would be a big, damaging step in the wrong direction. Good for John Boehner in recognizing that more than his own ambitions are at stake here. If the default actually comes, and markets panic, and interest rates for everything shoot up, keep the courageous Rep. Cantor in mind on that day.

Every once in a while, it would be nice if the Republicans in Congress did their jobs.

Marriage in New York

Sullivan raves about how New York's political leaders in both parties have made gay marriage a real possibility this year:

It's a BFD because it doubles the number of Americans with the right to marry the person they love, even if they are gay. That is one hell of a fact on the ground. It will almost certainly help in California. It will reveal even more profoundly that this does not mean the end of civilization, but is, more prosaically, a modest reform to strengthen the family, integrate the marginalized and enlarge our moral universe. And it cannot now be undone.

Fingers crossed.

Record tornado activity in 2011

Via the WGN Weather Blog, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has produced a mongo cool video showing the tornadic activity in North America in April:

The National Storm Prediction Center reports a staggering 1,425 tornados so far this year, with 519 reported deaths. For comparison, the three-year averages are 1,376 tornados and 64 deaths for the entire year, putting this year at 248% and 1946% of average for events and deaths, respectively.

So, remember how the anthropogenic climate change hypothesis predicts increasing extreme weather? Yeah. Welcome to the new world.

Civil Illinois

Civil unions became legal today in Illinois, with the first ceremonies scheduled for tomorrow. The Cook County Clerk's office has a FAQ on Civil Unions for anyone interested in the procedure:

Illinois will begin offering Civil Union licenses at county clerk offices on Wednesday, June 1. The Cook County Clerk’s office will open its downtown office early to mark the momentous occasion. “I’m thrilled this day has finally come,” Clerk David Orr said. “This will be a joyous day for all couples – gay and straight – who want to make history as part of the inaugural group of civil unions.”

Illinois is now the 10th state-level jurisdiction, including the District of Columbia, to allow gay marriage or same-sex civil unions.

May 25th

It turns out a lot of stuff happened on May 25th in years past:

  • In 1521, the Diet of Worms coughed up an edict formally designating Martin Luther a heretic;
  • In 1878, the infernal nonsense Pinafore opened in London;
  • In 1925, Dayton, Tenn. indicted John Scopes on charges of teaching evolution in a school;
  • In 1963, Mike Myers was born (yes, he's that old);
  • In 1977, Star Wars hit theaters (and I spent an hour waiting in line in Torrance, Calif., to see it);
  • In 1979, American 191 crashed in Wood Dale, Ill.; and
  • In 2006, Geek Pride Day had its first celebration.

No over-arching point is intended here. I just thought the connections interesting.

The meaning of "or"

In computers, as in any technical or artistic field, sometimes words have different meanings than they do in ordinary English. Take "or," for example. When a computer sees "or," it understands that if either condition is true, then the entire thing is true. The logic chart looks like this, with the conditions along the edge and the result in the middle:

 TrueFalse
TrueTrueTrue
FalseTrueFalse

So, if condition 1 is true, then the statement is true, regardless of condition 2, and vice-versa. Only when conditions 1 and 2 are both false is the result false.

In standard spoken English, the word "or" doesn't work that way. Instead, it functions as an "exclusive or" (XOR), wherein one and only one condition must be true (and the other false) for the entire thing to be true. That grid looks like this:

 TrueFalse
TrueFalseTrue
FalseTrueFalse

So if condition 1 is true and condition 2 is false (or vice-versa), then the result is true; but if both 1 and 2 are the same, the result is false.

Leave it to master logician and brilliant philosopher Newt Gingrich to use a logical "or" in conversation today when he said, "either I really believe the things I've said my whole life, or I'd be a fraud." See? To a computer, he can be both!

Actually, he can be both to a person, too, but that's another problem.

The only governor we had, unbleeped

Rod Blagojevich, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties:

The prelude to this curse is also quite interesting because Blagojevich is on a conference call talking to his advisors and he quickly seems to come unhinged. He starts the conversation by saying he’s been politically successful, but Obama’s rise to the White House makes it difficult for him to run for president. He tries to keep his cool, but then he makes clear to his advisors what he wants: money. Then an advisor asks one question and he loses it.

(Go to the WBEZ City Room for a link to the uncensored tape.)

Some of the former governor's money woes might—might—have come from spending $400,000 on clothes in the six years before his impeachment. Just maybe.

Pat Quinn will never give us this kind of entertainment, running the state competently as he does. I mean, this is f****n' Illinois. And we had this thing, and it was f****n' golden. But then it got tossed out of office, and all we have now is the retrial.